A/N: Let the story unfold...
Chapter VII: Magnitude
Surprisingly, they found the hospital wing to be overwhelmed with students. Through the crowd waiting in the hallway Regulus saw the staff, led by a nearly panicked Madam Pomfrey, darting around the extent of the hospital. Evidently, demand was high for some reason...
"How are you feeling?" he turned to Andromeda.
She turned to him, ashen-faced. "I've been better."
"Here, let me immobilize your arm," Regulus said, as he reached for his wand.
"No!" she protested. "I can take care of myself!"
"Right, you were going to crawl up here, like the hero you are," Regulus patronized her. "Now, stand still."
He held out her arm at its full length and she winced at the pain. "Relax," he said. "It'll only take a second."
Indeed, it did. Within a moment, the icy feeling of the immobilization, or freezing, charm spread through the length of her arm.
She looked at him with a mixture of confrontation and sympathy in her eyes. "Thank you."
The simple statement was sufficient; they fell into a comfortable silence and sat down side by the side on the floor, awaiting their turn.
Around them, people were seemingly chattering about a single topic - blacking out. Regulus found this immensely curious and decided to occupy his time by listening to a nearby pair of girls talking about it.
"What did you see?" one of them asked.
"I don't know," the other fourth-year shrugged her shoulders. "It's as if I was there, you know?"
"Yeah, I do," the first one scratched the back of her head. "What'd you see?"
"I was in a big room. Then, this man came to me and he was tall and thin. He told me I had won an honourable mention. I have no idea what it means, but then there was this thunderous applause around me afterwards."
"Well, you obviously won an award," her friend reasoned. "What else do you remember?"
"I'm not sure," the other girl rejoined. "I think there was a date somewhere..." she screwed her face in concentration, trying to recall the detail.
"We can ask Madam Pomfrey for a remembrance potion afterward. How's your knee, by the way?"
"Still throbbing. I must have hit it against the edge of the bed when I fainted."
"I'll stay with you, don't worry."
"Thanks," the girl replied. "Oh, but you didn't tell me - what did you see?"
"I have no idea how to interpret it either," her friend started off right away. "But there was a boy next to me, and he held me in his arms. I have no idea who he was, but it felt so right...you know that feeling, when everything is in its place and nothing could possibly go wrong? Something akin to that."
"Where were you?"
"Somewhere beside the lake on the grounds...it was a really nice and warm day, too."
"Hmm, do you remember any dates?"
"None, really. If I trust my gut feeling, I'd tell you it's at some point in the future. I had the distinct impression that it was something that's going to happen to me at some point in the future."
"You saw the future?" the other girl's eyes widened.
"I didn't say I did, I just told you I had that feeling."
"Still..." the contemplative quality in her voice did not go away.
Regulus tuned out of their conversation at this point, intrigued by the prospect that had just arisen. He had regarded this whole incident as a bad dream and nothing more. Yet, now he knew that more people had been affected, maybe even the entire school.
If he indeed saw the future, the prospect thrilled and scared him at once. Scenes from what he remembered played back in his mind. On deeper consideration, what he saw was not really a very good cause for optimism.
Admitting it to himself, what he saw positively made him shudder. He did not recognize the setting, but wherever it was, he was in the middle of a ferocious battle: curses were flying everywhere, screams of pain mixed with the spellfire and to his right there were several bodies he could not recognize. Looking down at his shoes, he remembered standing in a pool of blood. In the next moment, he recalled the ghastly green streak of death coming with all speed towards him...
"Regulus!" a voice snapped him out of the engrossing memory.
"Oh!" he jumped. "Andromeda, it's just you. Good." He sounded relieved.
"You spaced out there for a good two minutes," she told him. "What's going on?"
His eyes locked with hers, but then he quickly looked away. "Nothing."
"It's obviously not nothing," she persisted. "Tell me."
"What's it to you, anyway," he turned defensive.
"It's affecting you as much as it is me," she snapped back. "It's pointless to fight about this."
Regulus was forced to concede the point. "Fine, I'll tell you."
She looked at him expectantly. "I saw a battle. I was in the middle of it. Don't know where or why I was there, but I was about to be killed. I saw an Avada Kedavra coming towards me..."
He shuddered again, and stopped short.
Andromeda's jaw dropped. What she recalled -
"I saw you getting killed," she whispered.
"What?"
"I saw you getting killed," she repeated faintly, trying to convince herself more than him.
"How?" Regulus could not comprehend the possibility.
"I don't know," Andromeda slowly regained her composure and her reason finally kicked in. "We must have been at the same place."
"How is that possible?"
"I don't know," she said honestly. "but somehow, our visions are intertwined."
"I can't believe it," he stated. "You seeing me die?"
"Say what you will, this is what I saw," she looked straight at him
They both fell silent for the moment.
"Do you remember seeing a date, time, or anything of the sort?" Regulus asked her at length.
Andromeda heard him and thought hard to recall the scenes.
"I think it was sometime in February of next year. I can't remember the exact day."
"February," Regulus repeated. "That's almost six months from now."
"Yeah," Andromeda affirmed thoughtfully.
"You reckon we saw the future?"
"How should I know?" she raised her shoulders. "But I can't rule it out."
"Will everyone please assemble in the Great Hall as soon as possible! This is an urgent notice! Everyone, please assemble in the Great Hall as soon as possible!"
The loud notice startled everyone waiting outside of the hospital wing, including Regulus and Andromeda.
"Now, of all times," she grumbled. "How am I supposed to go there with a broken foot!"
"Well, that's why I'm here," Regulus smirked. "Wingardium Leviosa!"
"Put me down, damn it!" Andromeda protested.
"I can, but what then?" Regulus told her. "You're my sideshow for the trip and I don't want to carry your heavy behind all the way to the Great Hall."
She hated when he was right, but his last remark would eventually be avenged, she promised herself mentally. At least, the scowl on her face could stay.
"How's the leg?" Regulus asked as they approached the staircase.
"Can't feel it. You froze it, remember?" she told him rhetorically.
"Precisely why," he replied. "You know the charm eventually wears off."
She did not look forward to the moment that it did.
Their injured throng of students finally limped through the doors of the Great Hall and dispersed throughout their respective tables.
Professor McGonagall was at the headmaster's desk and the worry on her aged face was pronounced.
"Quiet down, quiet down," her magnified voice rang through the expanse of the hall. "Quiet down!"
The chatter slowly faded away.
"I apologize for the inconvenience this assembly may have caused each and every one of you. Yet, the matter at hand cannot wait."
The students were anxious to know what she was referring to and not one eye strayed from her.
"Everyone in this school blacked out at precisely the same moment," she revealed the shocking news to an immediate follow-up of a collective gasp from the student body.
"The cause so far remains unknown," she spoke louder to cross the rising chatter once again. "If anyone has any relevant information, he or she is urged to come forward and share it. The people responsible for this will not go unpunished."
"As such," she continued, "A number of measures have been put in place by the faculty to limit the risk posed, should this happen again."
The idea of it happening again fundamentally terrified every individual present.
"Given the dozen fatalities we have suffered as a consequence, no student is permitted to travel unaccompanied anywhere in the school or the grounds. All students are to move in pairs at the very least."
Fatalities? Andromeda felt a chill go down her spine. Something sinister was certainly at work in the school.
"All trips of Hogesmeade have been postponed until further notice," McGonagall continued. "The house elves employed by the school have been authorized to use Dark Detectors throughout the fullest extent of the school to find any threats coming from questionable objects. That being said, your dorms may be searched at a moment's notice without your knowledge or approval."
"Lessons are going to proceed as planned, so will assignments and examinations. There will be no exceptions made, with the exclusion of another blackout."
"Students are to report suspicious activity or unidentified trespassers to any faculty member immediately. Given the significance of the event, we cannot take any risks."
"Any questions?"
Not one hand went up in the air. McGonagall was completely serious in every word she spoke, and as such, there were no protests.
Regulus was uncharacteristically nervous, fidgeting from time to time and sweeping back his locks repeatedly. Andromeda picked up on his behaviour and even though she knew the kidnappings of their friends were taxing him significantly, she had the feeling there was something else bothering him.
The charms on her ankle and forearm were beginning to lose their hold and she was starting to feel twinges of pain. Unfortunately, she also was not versed in how to apply the charm herself, so she needed to attract Regulus' attention; however, even more unfortunately, he was sitting opposite her.
Luckily, she could kick him under the table. Positioning herself so that her left foot was in a striking position, she managed to kick him in the shin.
Regulus twisted his face at the sudden pain, but managed to keep himself from uttering a sound. He turned to Andromeda, silently furious. "What!" he mouthed.
"The charm," she whispered, pointing to her arm and gesturing to her foot.
His expression changed at once. "Hold on."
Regulus manoeuvred to reach for his wand and once managing to do discreetly so, directed the spellfire under the table, and successfully accomplished what he was asked, until -
"Mr. Malfoy!" the headmistress' voice rang through the Great Hall. "Are you performing magic under these circumstances?"
However, Regulus remains as calm as deep water. "I'm doing it for Andromeda, Professor McGonagall. She has a broken arm and ankle. It's only a freezing charm."
He remained looking straight at the aged professor, and on her end, she admired his honestly. "Very well. Take her to the Hospital Wing immediately. Any other students who need medical attention need to depart now. This assembly is over and all aforementioned rules are now in effect."
Andromeda made a move to rise to her feet. "Just wait," Regulus chided her immediately. I'll come around."
"You're not levitating me again," she protested.
"Oh, relax," he said. "How else do you expect we get to the Hospital Wing?"
"We walk." There was a certain finality in her voice.
"Not likely," he shook his head. "Wingardium Leviosa!"
Much to her displeasure, Andromeda found herself floating horizontally in the air once again and drifting towards their common destination.
"You are going to pay for this," she threatened him.
"You and your broken bones will make me pay," his voice dripped with sarcasm. "Don't try to move too much."
Several minutes later, they were at the entrance of the hospital wing, ironically before anyone else had arrived. Madam Pomfrey was inside, already tending to her existing patients.
"Come on in!" she beckoned them inside once she saw them. "I have a spare bed. Hurry now!"
Andromeda and Regulus entered the ward and Madam Pomfrey pointed Regulus to drop Andromeda on a bed near the corner of the room. That he did, very carefully, which in turn surprised Andromeda. She did not expect this kind of care from him...
The motherly nurse immediately hustled over to the injured girl. She took out her wand and started drifting over the extent of Andromeda's body.
"Mhhm, twisted ankle, broken arm, some bruising," she said more to herself than the other two, "nothing unusual. You'll be here for a fortnight at most, Ms. Potter."
"Anything I should do?" Regulus asked the nurse.
"No, Mr. Malfoy, that's quite alright, I can handle all that is required. You have done well enough to immobilize the affected areas. If you wish, you can come see Ms. Potter in the morning."
"That won't be necessary," Andromeda said quickly. Inexplicably, she was beginning to feel really embarrassed in front of Regulus, keeping in mind all the help he had given her.
"I think I will," he said. "There is something her and I need to talk about tomorrow as it is. It might as well be on the way out."
She thought she knew what he meant. Regardless, she would need to regain some of the forcefulness in her attitude before then...
"Alright, Miss Potter," Madam Pomfrey came to her with an ominously hissing bottle, "open up."
**
Regulus went back to the Gryffindor common room, thinking over what had happened today. He still needed to recover his friends and Andromeda hers. Keeping in mind the common threat, they needed to do it together. His instinct advised him against alerting the authorities. He didn't know how far up this threat went. Also, the note he received prior unsettled him. Somehow he was a pawn in this whole intrigue, but it escaped him as to who was behind it and what his purpose would be. That is, he felt a complete loss of control and the prospect frightened him fundamentally. For starters, then, it would be a good idea to bury the hatchet with Andromeda completely and cooperate, starting in the morning....
A/N: I'm feeling this is going to be a slow-burn story...you like the idea?
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